


Space For Two

by booabug



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Roommates/Housemates, Alya/Nino are in here too because hell yeah squad but not enough for me tag them in good conscience, F/M, Fluff, Mutual Pining, Roommates
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-25
Updated: 2018-08-25
Packaged: 2019-07-02 06:07:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 5,849
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15790521
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/booabug/pseuds/booabug
Summary: Born out of ML Fluff Month and AU Yeah August, a collection of assorted stories about Adrien Agreste, human disaster, and Marinette Dupain-Cheng, who he asked to move in with him as disaster control.(First four chapters migrated from another worksupposedto be for one-shots.)





	1. Firsts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marinette questions her decision making skills and life. She’s moving in with a guy she’s kind of been really into for forever, and just moving day has her hot and bothered in the worst ways. Meanwhile, Adrien couldn’t be more sure that asking Marinette to be his roommate was the best thing to do. (It’s alright, she comes around to agreeing.)

Marinette had thought that the first night of being roommates with Adrien would be nerve-wracking.

Oh, yeah, they’d formed an easy friendship over the years. The number of times she stumbled over words? Less than the times they bantered and joked! Her uncontrollable smiling was down to a very socially acceptable level at his constant leaning in and shoulder squeezing. Plus! Plus, whenever he caught her, she would just give a quick thanks and right herself. No gawking. Except yesterday.

Yesterday was moving day, on a day that didn’t know summer was ending. This meant a sweaty Adrien in athletic shorts and t-shirt clinging to every bit of his body and Marinette being acutely aware that he was even more well built than previously thought. Evidence? The view every time he pushed or pulled or lifted furniture and boxes, or slicked his hair back from his forehead.

Also the view when he caught her, stumbling over herself for _reasons,_ and she reverted to frozen staring.

If most people got unbelievably hotter when cleaned up in formal wear then Adrien, with his hint of cologne and semi-formal street style, got unbelievably hotter when faintly musky in unkempt clothes.

Marinette would describe herself on that day as _‘sweaty and upsetty.’_

So yeah, when it was finally time to pass out and not think about stupid, sexy Adrien, she squeaked and jumped at his soft, “Marinette?”

“Yes?” she said when she turned in the dim hallway to see him in his room’s doorway. Him in pajama shorts and a faded band t-shirt, hair still wet from his shower, with five-o-clock shadow. At that point, tired as she was, frankly speaking, it kinda pissed her off that he found yet another way to make her stop breathing.

“Thanks,” Adrien said with a shy smile.

She remembered why she could never stay mad at him. “For what?”

“For moving in with me. I know everyone thought it’d be me and Nino, which would make sense, it’s a bit weirder when it’s co-ed,” he rambled to some vague point on the ceiling, “And he’s a lot of fun, and chill when we need to be too, but...

“He’s kind of a dad friend. Last time I tried to do laundry and put too much detergent, I could barely convince him to let me help by cleaning up while he worked the machine," he smiled to himself and shrugged. "Well, after he started a bubble fight.”

“Classic Nino,” Marinette smiled and nodded.

Adrien nodded back. “Classic Nino.”

“So, did he just set it to rinse and drain again, or what?”

Adrien made an _‘I dunno’_ face. “I dunno. He didn’t show me. I asked, and he just told me to relax. I think I’ve relaxed enough my whole life.”

“Highly debatable.”

“With housekeeping.”

“Okay, yeah,” Marinette said, “So you wanted me to be your roommate... to teach you how to do laundry.”

Adrien crossed his arms and rolled his eyes. “It sounds dumb when you put it that way, but yeah. I guess. Plus other stuff.”

“Other stuff? What other stuff?” she asked, “I might need an itemized list.”

“I don’t know, like ironing, and, cleaning... things. House things... house basic things. Things that people... I don’t even know,” he sighed. “You know, all that time we had to think about what we’d do for the future, all I knew is that I wouldn’t be able to make it on my own. I, uh, I just knew I needed to get out that house, more than anything.”

His voice made her heart sink.

“I needed to _make_ myself get out of that house before I convinced myself it was fine. I-I needed-” he took a deep breath, closing his eyes. He opened them again to the floor, but slowly looked up into her patient gaze. A smile crept up his face. “You... you can do anything. You always could, no matter how scared you were at first, and you make me feel like maybe I can too.”

Marinette smiled back.

“Oh, Adrien,” she said gently. She moved towards him, not knowing what she was doing until she held him in her arms, hearing his breath hitch in his chest, then continue, slow and even. “Of course you can. You’re such an amazing person.”

He melted into her embrace, weight drooping into her so much, she had to step back. He simply followed into the hall while she suppressed a giggle. He nodded softly, silently, his head resting on hers.

“I’ll be here every step of the way,” she murmured.

“Yeah.”

“I’ll even teach you how to use a washing machine.”

“Yeah, yeah...”

“I’ll listen whenever you’re scared or anything. You know that right?”

“Yeah,” she felt more than heard him chuckle. “Don’t worry about that. I always end up spilling this kind of stuff out to you. I don’t even mean to but, well, can’t say I’ve ever regretted it.”

Marinette held him tighter.

“Thanks,” Adrien repeated, “There’s no one I trust more, no one I’d rather be with through all this.”

She rubbed his back. “There’s nowhere I’d rather be.”

Which, it turned out, was a good thing, because she didn’t let go of him until he was ready. He was not ready to stop hugging for a very, very long time. Later, when Marinette was in bed, knowing Adrien was in the other room, she slept peacefully through their first night as roommates. (And so did he.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Crossposted on Tumblr.](http://booabug.tumblr.com/post/176573899628/)


	2. Ecletic Fan

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Original summary: "A little thing to go with the previous chapter's college roommate AU one-shot."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> freakin "one-shot," my tuchus

Adrien was kind, charming, and smart. These things Marinette held to be true. Also true: **1.** There are many different ways to be smart, and **2.** He was a very eclectic mix of intelligences.

Marinette watched from where she was puddled on the couch as he cleaned the fan.

Adrien coughed, and _ugh_ ed, and continued coughing.

He was wearing goggles. There was that.

Adrien, you see, was top of his class in a very competitive program for good reason. He lived and breathed physics. He had _eureka!_ moments, which sometimes meant Marinette had to haul her fabrics and papers away from whatever he was about to do that required eye protection.

Cleaning the old fan she brought from the bakery didn’t require lab goggles; but they were a good idea if you did it _while it was running._

Adrien coughed some more.

He continued freeing lint and dirt into the wind going from the fan blades _(‘impeller’)_ into his face.

Marinette wondered if she should tell him.

Then she remembered when one of his _eureka!_ moments meant grabbing her coffee cup and turning it over in his hand, spilling it’s contents all over the sidewalk. He had apologized profusely between mumbling constants and formulae as he covered it in calculations.

_**But apologies don’t unspill coffee.** _

So she waited until there was _just_ a bit of dust left and he _just_ got through a heavy cough before she said, “You should probably turn that off when you clean it.”

Adrien froze.

His face fell.

He coughed softly.

When he had done spontaneous calculations on her coffee cup, he had forgotten to account for some force or other early on. Realizing that, his expression was a mix of deep, deep despair, remorse, and betrayal.

He turned to Marinette now with that exact same expression, slowly removing his goggles, his hair billowing in the the traitorous air.

Adrien was kind, charming, smart, and the most effortlessly dramatic person Marinette had ever witnessed.

Her one regret in laughing at him so hard is not seeing the face he made.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Crossposted on Tumblr.](http://booabug.tumblr.com/post/176580265368/)


	3. Space is really big.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> During a late night on the tiny porch of Adrien and Marinette's shared college apartment, Adrien gets very inarticulate and sweaty and confused, but it turns out okay. Later, during the day, in a school hallway without just her friends on the phone, Marinette is very frustrated and angry, but that turns out okay too. Funny how things come together like that. Thanks, vastness of outer space.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was supposed to be ML Fluff Month Day 8, Late Night, and this AU was supposed to be a one-shot, and this wasn't supposed to be so long. I have no idea if this makes sense to anyone, but I'm posting it now before I don't post it ever.
> 
> I'm never doing chat text again. [Crossposted on Tumblr.](http://booabug.tumblr.com/post/176838256183/late-nights-and-space)

After a day hiding from the angry sun, the deep night’s distinct lack of a fiery ball of plasma was a blessing. Their little windward porch made it all the better. The drinks Adrien and Marinette were now nursing, sadly, were not helping.

The bottle sat on the cable spool between them, having been forced to join them in the un-refrigerated air long ago. Adrien, picked it up and sloshed it around, only to find there was nothing left to slosh.

Just as well. The sparkling juice would have gone flat on top of warm by then. He wished there was room for a cooler, or even a bucket of ice.

If he could have had his way, Adrien would have gotten them a place with some space like the bakery terrace their makeshift table was from, where Marinette wouldn’t have to hang her planters on the outside of the railing, and they had chairs where they lounged instead of slouched, and had room to move without one getting up so the other could pass—and, yes, room for an ice bucket too—but she had insisted on an even split on the rent.

So holding it in when he had to pee so she wouldn’t have to get up it was.

Ah well. It was just until she agreed to let him pay more rent. Then he could stop scouring listings for his bookmarks folder (constantly, the turnover was insane) and Nino wouldn’t have to listen to him complain about the Paris real estate market.

It would be a huge relief for his bro. He heard about it from Alya too, from the point of view of affordability issues for less affluent demographics. Then he’d read her articles, already knowing everything in it and more.

Adrien smiled and shook his head. That guy had it so bad for her, he didn’t even know.

He looked at Marinette by his side, making sure he hadn’t been to distract that he’d missed something. Adrien’s mind always wandered when they sat together like this. He couldn’t help it. It was almost dreamlike, how he felt so relaxed, so carefree.

The only thing comparable were rooftop nights with Ladybug.

(Just, you know, without either of them in a state of lowkey romantic tension.)

Adrien looked over his companion, who sat slumped in her chair for maximum surface area to air ratio as she stared out over the city’s horizon.

He melted into his seat in imitation with a contented groan and said, “Tell me about your day.”

“Ehh,” she said.

“Ehh?” he echoed.

“Ehhhhnngh.”

That didn’t sound good.

He may still have work to do on the whole social interaction thing, but noticing when people were upset had always been a specialty of his. It was maybe over an over-specialization of his. He maybe over-speculated about whether people were upset with him; or were prone to becoming upset with him, if he did the wrong thing.

Adrien turned to look at Marinette.

He kicked her foot.

She gave him a look of disbelief, which he answered with a crooked smile.

“What are you, ten?” she asked, kicking him back anyway.

“I’ll be the bigger ten year old and not point out your hypocrisy.”

She flashed back a small smile of her own, shook her head, and looked back over the city.

Dang it.

He wanted Marinette to smile again, or at least look at him, but nothing came to mind that didn’t sound ten-year-old-like. He would have to think about his words, like some kind of college aged adult or something.

Weird.

Adrien never had to think about what to say to cheer her up, usually. Then again, he usually had some idea of what was bothering her.

He was coming up blank.

It frustrated him.

Classes had started only a short time ago, but he was so quick to work out problems and concepts that his classmates had noticed already. They were making a habit of asking him if he could explain. He was happy to. He enjoyed it.

He’d trade it all for the ability to work out how to get Marinette smiling again.

Apparently, Adrien’s brain just wasn’t wired for that.

He studied the way the humidity made her hair poof out a little, and how some flyaway strands of hair stuck to her skin—they always would, no matter how she tried to keep her hair tied back—and how her blue eyes looked so blue in the way that didn’t suit her, how they drooped with weariness when they usually shone with an alertness, a vibrancy he found infectious, that found him coming back looking for more again and again without realizing it; at least he hadn’t before. Did he do that? Come to think of it-

“Space is really big,” Adrien blurted out.

Marinette turned to him. She blinked.

Adrien blinked back.

He was suddenly aware of how sweaty his forehead was. “Vast, really,” he said. His palms were hot and moist. He took them off the armrests to air out. “It biggles- _boggles._ It boggles the mind,” he continued. He decided his arms were uncomfortably warm too, and shook them out.

A smile slowly crept up Marinette’s face.

She giggled.

He found himself giggling back. (Adrien would love to say he _chuckled,_ but to be real here...)

“Did you spike your drink?” she asked, voice high with her giggle still lingering.

“What?”

“You were drinking juice just like me, right? Non-alcoholic?” she asked and sniffed the empty bottle. “Are you hiding a hip flask and sneaking whisky into your glass?”

“No!”

“Then what was _that?”_

“I don’t know?” he answered honestly. “I just couldn’t help, I noticed that something’s bothering you, and...” he looked away, over to the city. “And my mind went to how it gets overwhelming here? Not _here_ here, not the balcony. The balcony is nice. Not overwhelming- but not _under_ whelming either! Just right.”

“Yeah,” she said, “Just the right level of whelming.”

“Exactly!” he exclaimed. “Exactly the correct whelming.”

Marinette leaned an elbow on her armrest and rested her chin on her hand in mock fascination. Frankly, he did not appreciate it.

“How about space?” she asked, teasing, “How whelming is space, which is very big?”

Adrien crossed his arms. “It _is_ big.” Having his arms crossed was too hot, so he uncrossed them. “Really big,” he mumbled.

“No, no, I agree,” she said, “I’m just trying to understand what that has to do with... anything. Literally anything about right now.”

“Okay,” he said, shoulders reaching for his ears. “I know I’m not making sense, but it’s hard, because that’s the point, the point is...” he stalled, trying to think of what the point was. He could feel Marinette watching with patient amusement, which helped, but didn’t help.

Now they were finally talking. And nothing was making sense. A breath of a laughter puffed out of Adrien as tension melted from his shoulders.

“The point is everything out there,” he said, waving a hand out at the city. “We have to make sense of rent, and classes, and Paris, and sorting laundry-”

“-You’ll get the hang of it. You’re doing great.”

“Thanks,” he sighed.

Adrien turned to completely slouch in his chair, to let his head fall back so he could look up at sky. “That, though? I can’t make sense of that. The great search for what’s out there, this thing all these brilliant people are looking for, and I’m a part of it. Or I will be, once I realize what little, great part catches me. It’s overwhelming, but in a different way, you know? It’s so much that my mind gives up and just...”

He turned his head to Marinette. He breathed, “I just relax. My mind wanders, and I stop trying so hard, somehow.”

Adrien looked into her eyes, hoping she understood.

She looked back.

He wasn’t sure if she did. He didn’t know if he cared, when that look in her eyes was back, the bright, curious look that was Marinette.

Marinette’s eyes crinkled with a smile. Adrien supposed his must have too, the effect that had on him.

“Is that why you study physics?” she asked, “To try and make sense of it?”

“No,” he said, “No, no, just the opposite! The more I look, the more I find, the more I get to know, it all makes me that much surer I could never make sense of it, it-” he inhaled. Breathy with the air coming from deep in his lungs, he said, “It’s wonderful. I could keep chasing that feeling the rest of my life.”

Maybe it was wishful, but Adrien thought there was a look in her eye like she understood.

“So when things get too much,” he continued, “I think about... that. Space, I mean,” he said, glancing away.

He craned his neck to take a look at the night sky of the city of light for a moment, before he let his gaze fall back to her. “I can’t see the stars, but they’re always there. Satellites too, so far away they’d look as small, but that’s where our phones get direction from. There’s always a connection. I just have to remind myself.”

Marinette had a way of smiling at him. A mysterious way that made Adrien feel like he was a pencil mark short of solving the equation. What equation, he couldn’t say, but it felt big and important enough that it was worth waiting for the pieces to come together. Something deep down felt they would.

“I don’t totally get it,” she said, “But I like hearing you talk about it.”

“Right?” he said, grinning wide. “Space is cool.”

Marinette snorted. “You’re such a nerd.”

“Uh-huh, and you like hearing me nerd out. So what does that make you?”

“Crazy, probably,” she muttered, shrugging and tucking a lock of hair behind her ear.

“Probably.”

She stretched out of her pose, then slumped with her side against the back of her chair, fully facing him. “Keep nerding out. It’s a nice distraction.”

“Good to know you find me so distracting,” he said with a wink, and stretched all over the back of his chair.

“ _Adrien,”_ she buried her face in a hand.

“Sorry,” he said, not quite laughing and not at all sorry.

 

* * *

 

Marinette was so frustrated she didn’t know what to with herself. She had her phone out and the group chat up before she even got to the classroom door. The doorframe’s corner clipped her shoulder. She took a moment to glare at it. 

**Marinette**  
guys i rly hate this prof and this is my first class today im already so tired

**Alya**  
GIRL WHAT'D SHE DO NOW

**Nino**  
i feel u. sad and mad (smad)

With the fury of Alya stirred on her behalf and Nino sympathizing with Ninoisms, Marinette breathed a little easier as she went on.

**Marinette**  
totally roasted my designs in front of everyone  
not by name ofc but she used me as an example

**Adrien**  
What? You worked so hard on those. They’re amazing.  
You even pulled an all nighter when you couldn’t stop. Not even for ice cream which btw I didn’t entirely eat, fyi in case you need it later.

**Alya**  
AM I GONNA HAVE TO THROW DOWN?

**Nino**  
honey no im p sure itll hurt marinettes grade almost as much as itll hurt the prof

**Alya**  
DON’T YOU BE RIGHT RN MISTER  >:(((

God, she loved them. The whole thing still clenched at Marinette’s heart, but at least they took the edge off.

**Marinette**  
im rly proud of them too! i know they’re good  
but it doesn’t matter cuz i didnt look at trend data before so they wouldnt sell which is a rookie mistake and exactly what we have to avoid she says  
good to know abt the ice cream btw

**Adrien**  
I can get more ice cream or whatever you feel like just let me know.  
She does know her class doesn’t deal with the business side of things right? I remember you showing me the syllabus. Trend thing is arguable too.  
Like REALLY arguable.

**Alya**  
not to mention freaking studying data or whatever, on top of that assignment, would have been insane

**Marinette**  
i know!  
she keeps doing stuff like this its like she doesnt think we have any other course load  
thats not even talking abt her attitude and how condescending her lectures are istg if it were possible at all to switch classes i would but im trapped here  
over an hour of just wanting to die every time i dont wanna take up the chat complaining but omg

**Alya**  
nuh uh, no holding it in, this is what we’re here for

**Nino**  
if u need 2 vent VENT okey??? its 4 U

She couldn’t say no to that.

Marinette took over the chat. Once she started, she couldn’t stop, not even when the response boiled down to Alya ready to take down her professor by any means necessary, and Nino couching his own brand of anger in in his own brand of jokes.

She didn’t want them getting upset too because of her, but she did feel a bit better knowing that she wasn’t alone. They’ve said that they feel better for it too, she reminded herself.

 **Marinette**  
anyway guess im finishing that ice cream tonight

With that to end her rant, she realized that Adrien had been silent the whole time.

Now she saw ellipses by his name appear and disappear over and over.

Oh, no. Marinette had probably made things super awkward for him, and she just knew he was beating himself up for not knowing what to say.

She watched as he kept trying to find something to say anyway.

Finally, a message came through.

**Adrien**  
Marinette... Space is really big.

**Nino**  
bro wat

**Alya**  
boy, what

Marinette burst into laughter, having to muffle it in her hand.

**Adrien**  
Vast.

**Adrien**  
Like, REALLY big.

She didn’t want to be snort-laughing in the hall, even if it wasn’t that busy. Her suppressed giggling was making it hard to breathe, though.

**Adrien**  
Really BIGGLES it BOGGLES the mind.

**Adrien**  
Whelming OFF THE CHARTS.

It hit her that she had to _make_ herself calm down and respond or he would keep going.

**Marinette**  
thanks adrien :)

**Adrien**  
:)


	4. Adrienergy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> tfw you're hopelessly in love with an idiot who has poor impulse control

One of the many surprising (but ultimately adorable) things Marinette had learned through her years of friendship with Adrien was how excitable he could be. Their friends didn’t see where she was coming from, but she had long ago lost count of how many times she found herself pulled by the hand into a sudden sprint to keep up with a very fast, very long legged, and very energetic golden retriever in human form.

Except his hair was softer.

Being roommates only exposed Marinette to more Adrienergy.

... And Adrien jokes, which were now rubbing off on her.

She had once opened the door, and hadn’t even opened her mouth to say hello before he literally catapulted himself across the living room and onto the couch. Once he had landed, he turned onto his side in what would have been a centrefold perfect magazine pose, except for his nervous grin and finger-gun.

Marinette had given him a confused finger-gun back and asked why he had just cannon-balled himself across their apartment.

He said he had been catching a fly.

Apparently, one that he didn’t want her to see, because when Marinette went to look, he kicked himself to tumble over the back of the couch, yelping that he needed to go to washroom as he scrambled to his feet and down the hall, hands closed around his precious fly all the while.

All in all, she was learning that Adrien was probably a little insane.

If it ever came to it, they would make a smashing, if very insane couple. After all, Marinette was only falling deeper for her increasingly ridiculous friend, which could only be a sign of her own insanity.

She comforted herself by thinking of Adrien as childlike, as opposed to deranged. Marinette wasn’t entirely sure if all his long, rambling speeches about theoretical physics were actually based on research, or if it was like when Alya sent her links to bizarre conspiracy theorists. She was sure of something real there: the sense of wonder Adrien positively radiated.

He showed that sense of wonder asking about flowers they passed in the street.

He wondered over the plumbing under the sink.

He wondered over kitschy baubles grandmas bought when he saw them in thrift stores.

On a day they both had free, when Marinette had the idea of combining grocery shopping with showing Adrien how she did that on a budget, he wondered about the products on the shelves.

“I had no idea they had so many different kinds of tea in supermarkets,” he said, craning his head to look top to bottom. “I’ve only been to specialty stores.”

“It’s not all of them,” Marinette explained, “This place is more of an Asian market than most. Otherwise you’ll mostly find... teabags.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah.”

Marinette studied the green teas. Adrien studied Marinette.

Marinette narrowed her studying of green teas down to four different pouches.

Adrien narrowed his focus on her narrowed focus.

Marinette continued staring. He weighed his options of staring at her more and not spending the rest of the day staring at things. Adrien said, “Is there a problem?”

“Huh?” Marinette looked up. “Oh, sorry, I’m just trying to figure out which one of these to get... You know what, I’ll just go with whatever’s cheapest.”

He cocked his head and took another glance at the shelf labels. “You sure? It’s cheaper, but like, 150 grams less.”

“Oh, you’re right. Nice catch,” she said, putting it back.

He beamed.

“Hold on, let me work out how much it is for same amount...” she pulled out her phone to the calculator app, sticking out her tongue as she looked between the screen and the labels.

Adrien put his mouth in his palm, hiding his smile as he watched her.

She had a momentary look of triumph, before her face fell. “I forgot what the first one came out to.” She groaned slowly, deflating until she leaned against the shelf by her forehead.

His shoulders were shaking.

“Don’t laugh.”

“I’m not,” he held up his hands, even though Marinette couldn’t see that either. “I’m not making a sound.”

“I know you’re laughing.”

“How would- okay just...” Adrien hummed and paused a moment, looking the shelf over, lifting Marinette’s head off for a second with an _‘excuse me.’_ “Okay, the lin yun and gunpowder are both 65 cents per 10 grams, mao jian’s 85, and long jing’s a euro 12.”

Marinette slowly lifted her head to look at him in awe. “You figured that out just now?”

“... Yes?”

She stared. He wondered how much staring would happen in this store.

“You,” she whispered reverently, “Are going to save me so much time shopping.”

“I am?”

“Adrien...” Marinette said, grabbing him firmly by the shoulders and staring him intently in the eyes.

While really quite happy about it, he couldn’t help but feel weird about how their usual positions were reversed. He resisted the urge to grab her shoulders back, in case he accidentally initiated wrestling. He was pretty sure it was bad manners to do in the store, even if it was fine at home.

Finally, as Adrien was beginning to try and remember what _she_ did in this position, Marinette said, “You are going grocery shopping with me every time from now on.”

“I am?!”

“Should you choose to accept it.”

“Yeah! Alright!”

So it was that Adrien began to tell Marinette price per common denominator for bread; for frozen goods; even, unnecessarily, for the bulk bins.

“Wow,” she said, crossing off the last thing on her shopping list as she walked. Adrien leaned on/pushed their grocery cart and occasionally pulled her out of the way of bumping into people, or things, or displays. “That was quick, and I can already tell the total’s going to be less than usual.”

“That’s good,” Adrien said, “So what then? Just save the remainder, or like, use it for other house stuff?”

“You could. Or you could get something off the list just as a treat, like snacks.”

He gasped, arms straightening while he white knuckle gripped the cart handles, bolting upright. “The snack aisle!”

Adrienergy readings peaking, Marinette asked, “Have you... never been in the snack aisle?”

“Only where it was all sodium free, quinoa and rice chips kind of stuff.”

“You poor, poor man,” Marinette said and put a hand on his shoulder.

Adrien felt incredibly comforted.

She guided him over to the end of another aisle, then paused to gauge his reaction. He took in the sight of junk food and food that, if one were to be honest, was below even junk grade and deserved to be called garbage.

“Welcome,” she told him, “To fatty, sugary, all sodium goes city.”

Adrien slowly pushed the cart down the aisle, until he reached the assortment of cookies. He stopped, and stared up at the tall shelves of artery clogging sweetness.

He couldn’t have looked at the face of the divine with more awe.

With a _clang!_ he leapt to balance on the cart frame, knocking down at least one package of each and every kind of garbage food from the top down.

“Adrien, no!” Marinette said, horrified, as they cascaded down, the world’s worst plastic and cardboard waterfall.

“You can’t stop me!” he said, hopping off to get to the mid-low range of garbage and toss them into the air and onto his growing mound of decadent trash. “You can’t stop me I’m paying don’t try to stop me.”

 

* * *

 

‘ _Childlike,’_ Marinette thought, _‘and sometimes childish.’_

She rubbed Adrien’s back as he groaned, laying face-down on the couch, surrounded in the cookie crumbs of his shame. “If I die,” he said, voice muffled, “Bury me with my blu-rays.”

“You’re not going to die.”

“Some of the older anime haven’t gotten BD releases. Bury me with the DVDs for those.”

Marinette sighed. “Okay, Adrien.”

“Thank you.”

“What have we learned?”

“When grocery shopping, have a list of necessities and a budget on hand, and uh... make the choice between similar things based on price per unit. Right?”

“Yes...” Marinette urged, “And?”

Adrien whined into the cushion. “And... don’t buy entire shelves of the snack aisle...”

“Right, and here’s a protip: even if you do buy a perfectly normal amount of snacks, don’t make yourself sick!” She gave his back a slap. He groaned only slightly.

The lack of dramatics deeply concerned her.

She continued gently, “Don’t eat it all at once, okay? spread it out over time.”

“Fine,” he grumbled, “I’ll spread the rest out over the next few days.”

Marinette blinked at the husk of a person before her, ostensibly her roommate, victim to cookie overload, expressing his intent to continue inflicting junk food death upon himself, just slightly more slowly. “The next few- Adrien, please. Please, try again.”

“Weeks?”

“There's enough preservatives in those things for archaeologists to find them intact,” she said flatly, “They’ll wonder if you were buried how you were so you could take your hoard of cookies and anime into the afterlife.”

“... I mean,” he turned to face her, chocolate chip smears still around his lips. “That _would_ be a nice way to cross over.”

Marinette sighed and rubbed some of the chocolate from Adrien’s stupid face which she still, stupidly, found adorable.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Crossposted on Tumblr.](http://booabug.tumblr.com/post/177017294303/adrienergy)


	5. All Hours

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> For ML Fluff Month, Day 24: Early Hours. Thoughts on all hours of Adrien's days.

Adrien had loved the early hours most, before he moved.

Early hours meant he was up late, which meant the day hadn’t left him drop-dead tired; that the next didn’t mean he had to sleep early anyway to get through it. It meant that night had passed. That the question of whether or not he’d gotten to see his father was already answered.

If he were up that late, he was chatting with friends, messing around with Plagg, or, best of all, with Ladybug.

Akuma attacks meant thrills, fighting by her side; patrols that ran late meant contentment, when they took some time to wind down. He’d make her laugh, or they’d complain and joke about things only the partners could, she’d lean on him as they sat in silence.

There are still those early hours, and he still loves them.

But now he loves the mornings too. Marinette will walk (lurch) into the living area, rubbing her eyes, wearing one of her old, worn sleep shirts.

“Good morning, Sunshine,” Adrien will say with a smile he can never suppress. She never says anything to reply. The look she gives him is enough: she’ll get him back somehow. And she always does, but he always says it anyway.

... Heavens help him if she ever finds out that she can get him just by lurching out in one of his old shirts. That, invariably, causes a mild heart attack.

(... Actually, he could use help _now,_ making sense of _that.)_

Adrien’s extremely grateful for laundry days, and not just because it means Marinette restocks on her own sleep shirts. Those days mean light ways to pass the time between loads:

There was folding and ironing, and her giggling approval when he showed off how well he folded or ironed something.

There was watching TV or movies, or playing video games, and nudging each other when the washer or dryer went _ding!_ with, “You get it,” and, “I got it last time,” and, “No, you didn’t,” until they realized both of them did, because they can pause the show or movie or game.

There was quietly catching up on homework, or quietly half-napping, or a quiet mix of both.

Adrien loves afternoons and evenings, even the ones that don’t meld with day the way they do at home. Marinette’s campus is farthest from his, but he can grab a meal with Alya, which always means more than a meal, and more than they’re willing to own up to with Marinette or Nino.

She’s a terrible influence.

It’s delightful.

Hanging out with Nino always comes with a sense of ease only his brother from another mother can bring. It means switching tracks for a while, mercifully being thrown off his day-to-day tempo as he saunters along to the beat of Nino’s own drum.

He always has a way of grounding him, while making him feel like he’s on another planet at the same time.

It’s wonderful.

Now Adrien really loves nights the most, out of any time of day, ever since he moved.

Those early hours may or may not happen, and in the morning, the roommates may not even see each other before they leave, and there are good days and bad days.

But there's always night. Night always means home. Home always means getting to see Marinette. Marinette usually means coming home to a warm smile and probably, "Are you hungry?" often, "Wanna order in? What do you feel like?"

Sometimes Marinette isn’t there when he hangs up his keys. They don’t eat together, but she texts or calls. To make sure he’s having dinner. To make sure he isn’t lonely. Without question, maybe after having already passed his door without a glance, she’ll lurch (back) to check if he’s still awake. To say good night. To make sure they see each other.

Marinette is always there. She means Adrien’s nights are always good.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Crossposted on Tumblr.](http://booabug.tumblr.com/post/177366970893/all-hours)


End file.
